Our reactions to terrorist attacks on social media are so predictable, it’s harmful

We don’t even realise it, but we all do the same things when a terrorist attack takes place. We’ve become numb to the point where we’ve developed our own social media mourning ritual and it’s heartbreaking.

The news outlets will say the same things over and over again, with the same phrases, panicking people and creating mass hysteria with unconfirmed information.

You’re expected to express your feelings. You can’t stay silent, otherwise it will look like you don’t care. You have to make sure to include the #PrayFor hashtag in your black and white Instagram posts and check in when you’re nowhere near the scene of the attack. You retweet images of Tube signs to show that you’re not afraid, because you are defiant.

But could it be that our reactions to terrorist attacks are actually more damaging than we think and the lasting effect is a more frightened and divided society?

The UK has had a severe threat level from international terrorism for nearly three years and we’ve been warned countless of times that an attack is imminent. Yet we still flock to social media to see how everyone else is reacting and fuel irrelevant debates about the religion of the suspect and conspiracy theories. We sensationalise the situation and detract from the real victims of the terrorist attack.

This is the predictable play-by-play:

People share sensitive information in shock

We retweet live updates of the attack, video footage and graphic images in shock and horror. Perhaps we do this to feel like we can gain control of the situation or we try and spread awareness, but it’s best not to share sensitive information about an ongoing case.

Graphic footage gets posted without respecting the victims

Some of us realise that we shouldn’t spread graphic footage of those injured in the attack out of respect and ask others not to either. We’re also reminded that in doing so, we’re doing the terrorists’ job of spreading terror and making people feel unsafe.

The inevitable argument whether the attacker is a “Muslim” refugee or migrant will happen

It happens every single time. The police haven’t even confirmed any information and already all the closet racists will pop out blaming immigrants. You will see people discussing the refugee crisis and how we should limit our immigration or close our borders before they even catch the suspect.

Some people love to remind you that there are much worse things happening all over the world daily

People love lecturing others on their bias. “You’re not allowed to feel like this because Americans just bombed a school in Syria and you’re upset over four people that died in Westminster.” Because we can’t we be upset about both, right?

Yesterday two people got killed in London and it's all over the news, yet a SCHOOL was bombed in Syria and it's like nothing happened there?

National media channels will create mass hysteria with no information

Broadcasters can fuck up. Hell, they will even tell you the wrong name of the suspect because they actually know nothing more than anyone else. Don’t get me wrong, these news are important and must be reported, but I can’t help but think that we’re creating mass hysteria, in which the extremists revel in.

Xenophobic politicians and leaders will use the event to fuel their bigotry

The likes of Tommy Robinson will stand outside the crime scene and speak about uncontrolled immigration and the dangers of radical Islam. Instead of paying respects to those people that just lost their lives, they use a horrific terrorist attack as an excuse to further their own agendas. It’s as though they fail to understand that xenophobia leads to people feeling out of place in society, thus making them more prone to being radicalised and joining a terrorist group.

Conspiracy theorists make inappropriate conclusions from images

They will take a photograph like the one below and completely take it out of context. Apparently this hijabi woman walked past the injured person because her religion tells her to turn a blind eye to the attack. People will do anything to fit a twisted narrative they want to believe in.

And then a few months later, repeat the above

It’s a horrible thought, but terrorist attacks are common and these things will happen all over again.

People use social media as a way of showing solidarity with those affected by this terrible terrorist act and no one must underplay what happened. However, there is a problem in the way the media covers terrorist attacks today and in turn, how we react to the news on social media.

There is an over saturation of information, with the added clutter of politics and religion, which plays straight into the hands of terrorism and leaves everyone else terrified and confused. It shows how divided our society is. The media capitalises on tragedies, creates harmful generalisations of minorities, instead of focusing on the victims and we feed into it.